Teen thug who fatally stabbed grandmother, 70, in Qld shopping car park loses appeal over murder sentence
A Queensland teenager who stabbed his grandmother to death in a shopping center car park to steal her car has lost his appeal against his 16-year sentence.
The boy was just 16 when he stabbed 70-year-old Vyleen White in the heart in Ipswich’s Redbank Plains shopping center car park before stealing her car in 2024.
While Ms. White was walking towards the center with her grandson, she was approached by a boy with a knife in his hand.
When the boy asked for Ms. White’s car keys, he took a few steps back, holding up his hands.
The boy plunged the knife into Ms White’s chest, leaving a deep 17cm wound in her heart.
While the child took his car keys and ran away, he also collapsed to the ground.
The teenager appealed the sentence, arguing it was the harshest prison sentence ever handed down to a 16-year-old boy for a fatal stabbing.
In a published decision, the Queensland Court of Appeal found that the 16-year prison sentence was not unfair or unreasonable in the context of the teenager’s offending.
The judges stated that “the 16-year prison sentence imposed for the crime committed by the applicant falls within the scope of a healthy exercise of sentencing discretion.”
“The applicant’s crime involved shooting a victim who clearly retreated and did not pursue him.
“There was also a deliberate use of a knife rather than an attack.
“Given the circumstances, the imposition of a 16-year prison sentence for murder was neither manifestly unfair nor unreasonable.”
Queensland Premier David Crisafulli told the media that the family would be pleased if the teenager lost his appeal, but his sentence fell short of what it should have been.
“I would like to point out that if this Adult Crime had occurred under Adult Time, there would have been a mandatory life minimum,” he said.
“And I don’t think there are many Queenslanders who don’t think that’s a more appropriate sentence than the one that was handed down with the appeal upheld.”
